Great photos! Where'd you get the wolf from, unmc? I might have to get one!
Opened a ton of figures today as I organized my display shelf. Really love the Cobra Commander, he's always been my favorite character along with Snake Eyes and this is a fantastic figure. I wish Hasbro gave him more hands and his sword/long dagger is an awkward design for his sheath (if pushed all the way, it pokes out, but if you keep it half up, the silver metal part is exposed with the cobra handle, huh?). I'd like it snug in there with the Cobra handle sticking out.
I think I have enough to assess the line (thus far):
PROS
-Great "overall" designs: Overall, all the character designs are fantastic. They nail the key elements, design features, and personalities of the characters. Snake-eyes has his visor, Beach Head has his red beret, Duke is blonde again, Gung-ho has his tattoo (yeah, I know it's not the USMC logo), etc. etc. There are some bright colors (mostly on the Joes) and "flair" here-and-there, but I think it's a good balance.
-Articulation: Hasbro knows how to do articulation. There's no arguing that. We got it all here, head, neck, ab crunch, bicep, double-jointed elbows, etc. They've even introduced their own "drop-down" hip articulation that we've seen previously on import designs (Hasbro still needs to refine it in my opinion). They just need to tweak some of hand choices OR include extra hands. Most gun-wielding characters should have wrist articulation that moves "up-and-down" (i.e. "roll of the dice" motion), NOT "side-to-side". Snake Eyes is a perfect example of getting the wrist articulation correct to correlate with his weapons. If you're curious: Anthonyscustoms (the toy reviewer) on Youtube has a great video explaining how wrist articulation should be for figures.
-Classified Series Boxes: Honestly, I throw away my boxes. The only boxes worth keeping for figures in my opinion are Hot Toys ones. But these boxes are VERY cool. The unique and variety of box art makes every box unique, but the standard logo, coloration and everything else stand out. The numbering system is a good incentive for collectors.
NEUTRAL
-Weapons/Accessories: It's obvious nowadays that Hasbro is going to very rarely give us ANY guns that resemble real-life weapons like they used to. You can argue about this until you're blue-in-the-face, but here's the reality: HASBRO DOESN'T WANT PARENT/CHILD ADVOCACY GROUPS BLAMING THEM FOR GLORIFYING GUNS/WAR/VIOLENCE/TERRORISM/ETC. G.I. Joe is already a toy-line that BORDERS this very carefully and Hasbro will make design choices so they don't piss off the wrong people. I'm fine with that and we've seen Hasbro move this way over the years. You want Duke with a SCAR or your Cobra Trooper with a M-4? Go to Marauder Gun-runners or try finding someone who makes them.
Anyways, overall, I like the weapons. Yes, they are "futuristic" and some art Hasbro's NERF guns but they did a good job overall of giving us some weapons that look cool and fit the design aesthetic. Having some paint on the guns also is a nice touch. And on the plus side: weapons, swords, staves, etc. are all there looking how they should. The Cobra weapons also do a good job fitting the Cobra motif into it, and I accept this knowing how bombastic Cobra Commander can be. Hasbro has also done solid with incorporating backpacks, holsters, sheaths, etc. that can HOLD the weapons. This was a common complaint on some of the Marvel Legend characters where they couldn't store their guns because the holster would have a fake gun already molded into it.
We need more hands though. Every character should come with a pair of "side-to-side" hands and the "up-and-down" hands. This is critical for gun-wielding/sword-wielding/etc. Once again, I point to Anthonyscustom's wrist articulation video.
-UPCOMING G.I. JOE SNAKE EYES MOVIE: I believe that the "downfall" of the most recent 2000's G.I. Joe resurgence (JvC, Spytroops, VvV, the 25th Line) was the crappy "Rise of Cobra" movie. This movie did more bad than good and I think it alienated fans and even kids. "Retaliation" was a little better but it was still bad and the damage was done. G.I. Joe would fade away soon after that.
If the upcoming Snake-Eyes movie is bad...it's very possible it can affect the line. While it looks like the focus will be a movie Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow release, Hasbro better not go too overboard with slapping the "G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes" box art redesign all around like they did with "RoC". Keep the CS style box-art or ONLY do unique box designs for Movie SE & SS. Also DO NOT/NOT try to tie the "Classified Series" to the movie BEYOND the movie figures. That was another problem with "RoC" is that suddenly Hasbro strayed the whole 25th line to becoming "Rise of Cobra" and then "Pursuit of Cobra" lines...
CONS
-QUALITY CONTROL: This is my biggest pet peeve of this line, and maybe I'm a little spoiled because I've been collecting Hot Toys and Imports (like Figuarts) where their quality is usually up in the ninetieth percentile. But where the hell is the quality control, Hasbro? You've been doing this TOO long and it's unacceptable. These are $20 figures, and stuff you've made in the past has been much better.
MANY figures have a floppy ab-crunch and/or a floppy waist. Overall loose joints in arms, knees, etc. are also around but the torso/waist seems to be the most common. I suppose in some cases the vests on some characters helps this out a little, but it doesn't hide the fact that it's still there. I almost wish that Hasbro did the standard straight-line revolving waist joint that they have on Marvel Legends because the floppy "bucket -style" waist on my G.I. Joes is inexcusable.
Also, I appreciate that Hasbro is trying their own "drop-down" hip joint, but with their QC and the design they made of the drop-down hip (where in the crotch, there is a little section connecting BOTH thighs/hips to each other) sometimes it inadvertently causes the OTHER leg to shift or in some extreme cases, you get a figure who just can't keep both legs "up". Keep those drop down joints SEPARATE.
There's also some paint issues here-and-there. That's common across all Hasbro lines. I've also found some construction issues, such as seeing a Cobra Commander whose helmet wasn't fully glue'd on. How did that make it on the truck? I can understand the minor paint nits, but when a figure's head is basically off? Sheesh.
And how has this line barely started and you're already having running changes? The circle on Destro's head, Beach Head's brown eyes to blue? Seriously? C'mon guys.
Fix this Hasbro...this is one of two biggest issues. But this one will plague you longer in the long run.
-DISTRIBUTION: And number two. Distribution. Where is this line? Barely have seen it on shelves in my area. We all discussed this but I think the line popularity, mixed with COVID production/distribution issues, really caught Hasbro by surprise. Plus the Target Exclusive Wave 1.5 Cobra Island (which is either a genius stroke by Hasbro for including an army builder and/or got caught with their pants down) debacle all left fans with a sour taste in their mouth and scalpers drooling at yet another money-making opportunity.
I hope Hasbro doesn't pursue another Exclusive Wave, but if they do - make damn sure it's got enough distribution behind it or make better character selections that don't piss off your base. I'm a strong advocate that Exclusive Waves/Figures should be repaints or obscure characters AFTER a regular release. It should NOT be used as the first release of a character (like the CI Wave basically was). I think Hasbro learned their lesson distribution-wise and will be addressing this in the near term...maybe even as soon as the PulseCon coming up. Unfortunately, Hasbro is still entrenched in doing exclusives with brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart and Target so as much as I don't want an exclusive wave again, I think it can happen again.
-FIGURE BUBBLES: I actually think Hasbro needs to open up the actual bubble part with the figure a bit more and make it more figure-friendly. I feel that there is a tendency to keep it too tight and it actually pushes the figure's joints into awkward positions, ultimately warping the plastic. On Marvel Legends, you see a lot of fan complaints about how the bubble warps figure's accessories like swords or Wolverine claws. Similar here but not as bad, but I tend to think it harms the figures more themselves. Look at Arctic Storm Shadow, his thighs/knees are pushed towards one another and I guarantee when you take him out, you'll notice they tend to have this slight inward lean towards each other.
-BODY MOLD RE-USES: While the Classified Series is *new*, I think there will eventually be a point where we say Hasbro is "using the Snake-Eyes" mold or the "Roadblock body"...much like Marvel Legends fans chat up the "Bucky Cap" mold. This seems to be Hasbro's M.O. now and it looks like they'll stick with it. I understand the money-saving decision behind it (and we've seen it before for G.I. Joe) but eventually I think Hasbro will begin to be called out for some lazy efforts on figures. Every Marvel Legends figure is virtually 6-8 different body molds with a different head-sculpt and some add-on's. That might be the Classified Series eventually. I just hope we see some more variety by Hasbro since they don't have license fees to pay unlike how they do for Disney for Marvel and Star Wars.
-Where are the Filecards? Or something telling the "story"?: The last time we saw G.I. Joe on shelves was 4-5 years ago and with the exception of longtime fans/collectors...kids nowadays don't have ANY IDEA what this line is. The filecards help tell a story and tell us who these characters are. Yeah, there's a mobile game, and a video game coming out based on the CS designs, but will that help? Any line that wants longevity NEEDS new support...yes, even from kids.
Anyways - those are my thoughts so far!